Fungus-farming ants (the “attines”) are one of the most widely recognized groups of ants, particularly in the form of leaf-cutter ants. They even feature prominently at the beginning of the best classic Disney movie, Ant Lion King:
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Myrmecology Dies in Darkness
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Beat Correspondant Dr. Max Winston recently shared with us an interesting aural experience with a noble name: “Fire Ant”. Enjoy!
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All of the staff at The Daily Ant wish our loyal readers a Happy Easter!
Lasius ants preparing to dye some eggs? Photo: Alex Wild -
The Daily Ant hosts a weekly ant fashion series, Style Saturdays. This third installment is by our Fashion Correspondant Kathryn Pogin, who is also an Executive Producer of our popular Philosophy Phridays series. Enjoy!
I realize some folks might have expected me to write a Coachella-themed entry this week, but given that I’d like my work as the Daily Ant’s Fashion Correspondant to represent genuine myrmecological style, rather than Urban Outfitters with a side of Burning Man, this week we’re going to look at a rom-ant-ic ensemble that’s versatile enough to take you from brunch to the ballroom.
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The Daily Ant hosts a weekly series, Philosophy Phridays, in which real philosophers share their thoughts at the intersection of ants and philosophy. This is the eighth contribution in the series, submitted by Dr. Ben Roth.
Concerning Wittgenstein’s 284th Philosophical Investigation
“And now look at a wriggling [insect] and at once these difficulties vanish and pain seems able to get a foothold here, where before everything was, so to speak, too smooth for it.”
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Have you ever been stung by a fire ant? Even if you haven’t, you probably know how (supposedly) bad and evil fire ants are. Yet fire ants, and a couple other well-known invasive ant species like Argentine ants, are only a few out of about 13,000 known species of ants, and they give all of these other species a bad rap. So today, let’s look at a new study by co-first authors Kevin Li and Yifan He and colleagues that properly flips the script: invasive plants push around friendly native ants.
The big bad shrub, Elaeagnus umbellata -
As regular readers of The Daily Ant know already, ants harbor lots of bacteria. A growing number of studies are revealing that we should investigate these microbial communities, and their associations with their hosts, in order to fully understand the ecology and evolution of ants. In pursuit of this goal, Manuela Ramalho and colleagues just published an interesting study on the microbial composition of one of the coolest ant groups – Polyrhachis, the spiny ants.
- A Polyrhachis ant, with its microbial community. Photo: Melvyn Yeo
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The Daily Ant hosts a weekly ant fashion series, Style Saturdays. This second installment is by our Fashion Correspondant Kathryn Pogin, who is also an Executive Producer of our popular Philosophy Phridays series. Enjoy!
If you’ve ever found yourself tasked with responsibilities beyond your skill set because your wealth, your family, or your social standing have catapulted you to a position of power you didn’t earn on your own merits, you’re probably not an ant. You might, though, empathize with Jared Kushner. Kushner found himself the subject of some couture-controversy this week after sporting a look that, in the words of Drew Magary, says “I’d like to make a war, but I’d also like a mint julep.”
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The Daily Ant hosts a weekly series, Philosophy Phridays, in which real philosophers share their thoughts at the intersection of ants and philosophy. This is the seventh contribution in the series, submitted by Dr. Miriam Schoenfield.
Ants in your pants
Ants make great real estate decisions, and this is explained partially by the fact that their decisions are made by a group, rather than an individual. In some species of ants, when a move must occur, individual worker ants scout out a variety of nest sites, and when they find one that they like, they begin to recruit other ants to their chosen site. The more ants visit a site, the better for that site, and once a certain threshold of ant visitors is reached, the issue is settled and the new nest becomes home. This group decision-making process is very effective and explains why ants do so well at choosing new nests.
Turtle ants in their home. Photo: Alex Wild -
Early Wednesday morning, BuzzFeed staff member Kelly Oakes published “21 Tweets That Will Make Scientists Laugh, Cry, Or Both”. We are happy to report that our relentless investigative journalism is featured in #10. Check it out.
UPDATE: #12 is also formicid-friendly!
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Lichens are not ants. But, fortunately for lichens, lichens are nearly as cool as ants. Imagine what would happen if ants and lichens joined forces!
If you don’t have a good imagination, then you’re in luck. Lichen Correspondant Joel Mercado-Díaz recently drew our attention to a couple beautiful ant-lichen photographs. With permission from the original photographer, National Geographic Explorer Matthew Cicanese, we are happy to present these two pictures for your enjoyment:
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The Daily Ant is excited to announce a new series: Style Saturdays! The post below is by our Fashion Correspondant Kathryn Pogin, who is also an Executive Producer of our popular Philosophy Phridays series. Enjoy!
As you’ve probably already noticed, whenever you wear your favorite formicid-themed apparel, there’s a fine line between achieving that simultaneously chic yet quirky look that every myrmecologist desires, and a look that tells people, no, they really don’t want to take you up on that offer to see the insect collection you keep in the basement. But just because that line is fine, it doesn’t mean that it has to be difficult to navigate. Ant-wear can be casual and cool, or suave and sophisticated. By way of demonstration, today we’re looking at how to incorporate some fash-ant-able details into your wardrobe.
This look pairs a suit jacket (yes, I said suit jacket, not sport coat! Though, of course, you can go with a sport coat instead) with a white shirt, dark, slim cut, denim, and classic white Adidas with metallic detailing. The polished yet unconventional ensemble helps pull together a cohesive aesthetic that the tie and the cufflinks will complement rather than overwhelm. (If you’re worried about wearing cufflinks with denim, remember, they have ants on them — you’re already breaking traditional fashion rules, and that’s a good thing.)
If you want to be a little more dressed up, a little more daring (and on trend for 2017), stick with a white sneaker instead of a classic dress shoe even if you swap out denim for a full suit (you can pick this one up, here). Athletic footwear paired with suiting is an easier look to pull off than you might think, especially for spring. The trick for making it work is balance — easier with a modern cut (slim and deconstructed) and the right fabric, but sometimes it might mean loosening your tie, or experimenting with different sneakers (e.g., don’t pair converse with heavy wool!).
Thompson Voyager suit jacket
factory.jcrew.com
Adidas sneaker
$110 – asos.com
Armani Jeans mens slim jeans
$175 – harrods.com
Ants on neck tie
zazzle.com
Silver & gold ant cufflinks*
dd2.co.uk*Jeremy Heber Jewellery generously gave The Daily Ant a discount to promote these excellent cufflinks in our Style Saturday Series
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